Bone grafts engineered from human adipose-derived stem cells in dynamic 3D-environments

Modular tissue engineering (TE) is a promising alternative to overcome the limits in traditional TE. In the present study, adipose tissue derived stem cells (ADSC)-laden microcarriers are used as building blocks (microtissues) that self-assemble into macrotissues in a bottom-up approach. These bone grafts were compared with a classical top-down approach (scaffolds). This concept was compared with bone marrow derived stem cells (BMSC) as cell source. Cells were immunophenotypically analyzed, followed by 2D/3D osteogenic differentiation in static/dynamic conditions. The bone graft quality was evaluated by (immuno)histochemistry and gene expression. After 6 weeks of dynamic culturing, scaffolds were highly colonized although not in the center and the osteogenic gene expression was higher in contrast to static cultures. A cell-to-microcarrier ratio of 5 × 106 cells-0.09 g microcarriers leaded to aggregate formation resulting in microtissues with subsequent macrotissue formation. ADSC/BMSC on scaffolds showed a downregulation of Runx2 and collagen I, demonstrating the end-stage, in contrary to microcarriers, where an upregulation of Runx2, collagen I together with BSP and osteocalcin was observed. This paper showed that high quality bone grafts (2 cm³) can be engineered in a bottom-up approach with cell-laden microcarriers.